Disposable needles and syringes are routinely used in hospital and other medical facilities for drawing blood and other body fluids from patients administering medications, and the like. For health and safety reasons and, as required by law in some jurisdictions, these disposable needles must be properly destroyed after use to prevent inadvertent reuse, accidental injury and possible exposure to transmittable diseases such as Hepatitis and AIDS. Presently, some reusable needles are cut or snipped from their syringes prior to being placed in collection boxes for disposal. Others are directly transferred, completely intact, to collection containers for disposal by incineration, or the like. In all cases, from the time the needle is used to the time that it is destroyed, medical personnel and clean-up crews are constantly at risk for accidental needle sticks. In the use of recappable needles, there is always a risk of inadvertent needle stick to the medical personnel doing the recapping. Once the needle has been deposited into the appropriate collection receptacle, higher risk exists for individuals responsible for ultimate disposal. Inadvertently, the caps fall off the disposed needles in the collection containers, leaving the contaminated needle points exposed. As the container is filled, exposed needles often protrude through the container opening. Therefore, any individual placing needles in this container risks getting stuck with the contaminated needles.
Traditional needle system have always been a health hazard risk to our medical personnel. Diseases such as Hepatitis and AIDS have brought to our attention the need to develop devices to better protect our medical personnel from these risks.
Although a number of solutions to this problem have been proposed there remains a need in the art for a more reliable system to reduce the possibility of inadvertent reuse and safe destruction of disposable needle systems.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved disposable needle system.
A further object of the present invention is a disposable needle system that maintains the used needle within a protective housing that serves as a secured closed unit after needle use.
Another object of the present invention is a chemical solution disinfecting system that permits disinfection of a disposable needle system after use and prior to ultimate disposal thereof.
An additional object of the present invention is a disposable needle system that minimizes the chance for accidental needle stick injury to the user of the system prior to, during and after use thereof.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of visual indications that a disposable needle system has been used to avoid subsequent accidental reuse thereof.